Partygaming falls don't hold FTSE back

The new US laws make it illegal for credit card companies to collect and process payments for bets placed with online gaming companies.

Partygaming is currently the biggest drag on the index with a drop of a whopping 54% to 48.75p following the US clampdown on the sector, while smaller rival Sportingbet fell 58% to 77.25p, and 888 plummeted 35% to 95p.

However, Scottish Power has posted the biggest gains so far with a rise of 2.76% to 669.5p, closely followed by Kelda Group which is up 2.29% to 870p, while water company Severn Trent is up 2.17% to £13.65.

This is on the back of a £2.2bn bid for AWG, which owns Anglian Water.

Mining firm AngloAmerican is also performing well with a rise of 2% to £22.78, as the firm holds a 41.8% stake in South Africa's AngloGold - the world's third-biggest gold produce - which said it was finalising a share scheme for its employees to issue 5.24 million shares.

Meanwhile, Man Group is up 1.9% to 456.5p, although the gains have been limited by Prudential which is down 1.66% to 652.5p, after the company - whose shares jumped on Friday on takeover talk - said it is examining its options for its UK operation.

Marks & Spencer is also down in early trading with a drop of 1.01% to 636p, while Shire is down 1.8% to 872p, closely followed by Hanson which has fallen 1.42% to 762.5p in early trading.

In Japan the Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 126.71, or 0.8%, to 16,254.29 at the 3pm close after the central bank's quarterly Tankan survey showed confidence among managers of the nation's largest companies rose to the highest in two years.

Toyota, the world's second-largest carmaker, gained 70 yen, or 1.1%, to 6,490, while Mitsubishi Estate, the nation's No.1 developer, advanced 70 yen, or 2.7%, to 2,650, and Kyocera, the world's biggest maker of ceramic packaging for computer chips, rose 220 yen, or 2.2%, to 10,330.

Elsewhere, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest lender by assets, added 20,000 yen, or 1.3%, to 1.54m yen, while KDDI, Japan's second-biggest mobile-phone operator, climbed 13,000 yen, or 1.8%, to 749,000, and Tokyo Electric added 30 yen, or 0.9%, to 3,430.

But Sony, the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, dropped 50 yen, or 1.1%, to 4,730, after Toshiba said last week customers can exchange 830,000 of Sony's lithium-ion batteries, and Dell recalled 100,000 units on top of the 4.1 million it had announced earlier.

In the US on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.38 points, or 0.34%, to 11,679.07, despite initial gains after a tame inflation report boosted confidence the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates on hold.

Hewlett Packard posted the biggest gains with a rise of 2% to $36.69, closely followed by General Motors which added 0.6% to $33.26, while AT&T climbed 0.59% to end the week at $32.56.

However the gains were limited by Du Pont which fell 1.22% to $42.84 to end as the biggest drag ion the index, closely followed by McDonalds which dropped 1.19% to $39.12, while heavy equipment maker Caterpillar also slipped 1.19% to $65.80.

IFAonline

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